The Red Sox and Tigers, as two of the American League’s eight charter franchises, have been facing each other since 1901. Yet the upcoming AL Championship Series will mark the first time the tradition-laden franchises have squared off in the postseason.

Orioles third baseman Manny Machado will undergo reconstructive surgery on the medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL) in his left knee on Monday, a procedure that will require a four-to-six month rehab and potentially delay his readiness next spring.

The Cardinals may be used to all this, having earned seven playoff berths, three pennants and two World Series titles over the past decade. But the Dodgers are not, relying on an almost entirely new cast of characters to reach their first postseason in four years.

Mark McGwire spent three years helping build the Cardinals into an elite offensive unit but will now try to point the Dodgers’ pitching staff toward those hitters’ holes.

Zack Greinke was on his best behavior Thursday, which is to say the Dodgers right-hander got through the day before Game 1 of the National League Championship Series (Friday at 5:30 p.m. PT on TBS) without providing the Cardinals any bulletin-board material, like he did while with the Brewers during the 2011 NLCS. Greinke will pitch opposite the Cardinals’ Joe Kelly in the teams’ first NLCS matchup since 1985.

Joe Kelly’s understanding of the team concept — taking his lumps and working hard at whatever role the club asked of him — and his knack for pouncing on the opportunity to shine once it was presented to him embodies what this Cardinals team has done in reaching the postseason and advancing to a third consecutive NLCS.

Regardless of the numbers he has posted since mid-September, Will Middlebrooks feels good about his swing heading into the American League Championship Series.

Mike Matheny makes a persistent effort to deflect attention from himself. This effort is frequently successful. But the success of his team, the St. Louis Cardinals, is going to make that an increasingly difficult task.

Manager Mike Matheny announced the Cardinals’ rotation plans for the first three games of the National League Championship Series, and as expected, Joe Kelly will start Game 1 on Friday, Michael Wacha will follow in Game 2 and then Adam Wainwright will toss Game 3 in Los Angeles.

If the regular season is any indication, this year’s NL Championship Series should be an absolute thriller, as the Dodgers took four of seven from the Cardinals this year.

With the support of another elimination-game home run from David Freese and stingy defense behind him, Adam Wainwright went the distance and pitched the Cardinals to a 6-1 win over a Pirates team that had pestered them all season. It was the third victory the Cardinals needed to move out of the NL Division Series and on to a NL Championship Series showdown with the Dodgers.

Andrew McCutchen, who batted .278 in the NLDS despite his 0-for-4 Game 5, was afforded the tiniest of windows to be the hero for the Pirates.

The Road to the World Series made a few familiar turns in the decisive Game 5 of the NL Division Series between the Cardinals and Pirates, the only playoff game on Wednesday night.

Hobbled Hamley Ramirez was kept indoors, but healing Andre Ethier was running down fly balls in the gap Wednesday as the Dodgers worked out at Dodger Stadium in preparation for Friday’s start of the National League Championship Series.

Adam Wainwright spoke to the media after the Cardinals’ Game 5 series-clinching victory over the Pirates.

With the Tigers visiting the A’s on Thursday in a decisive Game 5, Detroit fans can take heart in the fact that road teams have won 11 of 15 decisive fifth games since 2002.

With David Freese’s early two-run homer off Gerrit Cole propping up cool Adam Wainwright’s pitching, the Cardinals prevailed, 6-1, in Wednesday night’s Game 5 of the National League Division Series, and the Pirates hit the end of the road.